Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
Prof. Niamh O’Connell conducts farm animal health and welfare research in collaboration with post-doctoral research assistants (Maeve Palmer and Mary Baxter) and PhD students. Niamh has specific expertise in applied, on-farm research work, and much of her research is funded by agri-food companies. One of her research themes focusses on the welfare of poultry, and, in particular in recent years, on designing optimum housing environments for broiler chickens. This includes work on the provision of different types of environmental enrichment (such as natural light, perches, foraging objects and dustbaths). She is also involved in commercially-funded research to develop novel biocidal products for the agri-food sector, including products to treat digital dermatitis in dairy cows. She also has a strong interest in developing new methods of assessing welfare, including the use of abattoir-based assessments to determine lifetime the welfare status of pigs.
She has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers and is a member of the EU Platform for Animal Welfare.
Teaching
Prof O'Connell is the Queens University co-ordinator of the BSc Agricultural Technology degree. This degree is delivered through a collaborative partnership with the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise. She also acts as Advisor of Studies for students on this pathway. She also co-ordinates the undergraduate module in Farm Animal Health and Welfare (BIO3106)
She teaches within the following pathways/modules:
- MSc Animal Behaviour and Welfare
- MSc Advanced Food Safety
- Farm Animal Health and Welfare (undergraduate module for Agricultural Technology and Zoology students)
- Advances in Crop and Animal Science and Technology (undergraduate module for Agricultural Technology students)
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Projects
R5829GFS: Influence of perch design on the welfare of commercial broiler chickens
15/05/2015 → …
Project: Research
R7280AES: Impact of the social environment in health, welfare, performance and meat quality of pigs in entire male production systems
01/08/2007 → 17/12/2019
Project: Research
Research Output
Investigating optimal levels of platform perch provision for windowed broiler housing
Baxter, M., Richmond, A., Lavery, U. & O'Connell, N., 10 Feb 2020, In : Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 104967.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
A pilot trial to examine the effects of manure properties and processing on the testing of footbathing products
Palmer, M., Garland, M. & O'Connell, N., 14 Mar 2019.Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster
Fecal microbiota transplant from highly feed efficient donors affects cecal physiology and microbiota in low- and high-feed efficient chickens
Metzler-Zebeli, B. U., Siegerstetter, S-C., Magowan, E., Lawlor, P., O'Connell, N. & Zebeli, Q., 09 Jul 2019, In : Frontiers in Microbiology.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Open Access
File
A comparison of total-mixed-ration and feed-to-yield strategies on blood profiles and dairy cow health.
Little, M., Arnott, G., Welsh, M., Barley, J. P., O'Connell, N. & Ferris, C., 18 Sep 2018, In : Veterinary Record.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Open Access
File
Does grouping environmental enrichments together affect the way they are used by commercially housed broiler chickens?
Baxter, M. & O'Connell, N. E., 01 Nov 2018, In : Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 210, p. 52-59 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Open Access
File
Activities
Understanding the benefits of natural light and other types of environmental enrichments for broiler chickens
Niamh O'Connell (Advisor)25 Oct 2018
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Broiler chicken welfare - next generation environmental enrichment and technologies to measure
Niamh O'Connell (Advisor)07 Sep 2017
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Effects of natural light and environmental enrichment on broiler chicken behaviour and welfare
Niamh O'Connell (Advisor)30 May 2017
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
EU Animal Welfare Platform (External organisation)
Niamh O'Connell (Advisor)2017
Activity: Membership types › Membership of national or international committees and working groups
To develop and embed animal welfare measurement tools that will facilitate the development and sale of novel biocidal products for use across the agri-food sector
Niamh O'Connell (Member)06 Mar 2017 → 05 Jul 2019
Activity: Consultancy types › KTP & Consultancy in kind
Thesis
Evaluating the use and effectiveness of environmental enrichments in intensive broiler housing
Author: Baxter, M., 16 Feb 2018Supervisor: O'Connell, N. (Supervisor)
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy
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